Almost lover
by brooke737
Summary: Being able to stay beside the one you love is one of the privileges of being a friend.That's what both were thinking.But what happens when the friendship must end,with the end being a matter of life and death...RW/SM
1. Beyond this lies nothing

A/N: Hello everybody! I am Brooke and this is my first story.

It is a romance Rose/Scorpius, and the first chapter I have written.

This story (so far, this chapter, that is) is dedicated to AdFinemAdInfinitum (she's an awesome writer, check her out) for introducing the world of fanfiction to me, and for being one of my best friends ever. I owe her a lot.

Love ya a bunch Sarah. Thanks for everything.

Anyway, I own nothing; it's all JKR's.

Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Beyond this lies nothing**

Rose had often heard that being away from the person you love is cruel.

She had come to discover that being right next to the person you love but not being able to have him is more that cruel.

It was excruciating.

Or at least it was for her.  
Rose and Scorpius had started hanging out at about a year and a half back.

They had decided to throw off all the prejudice about 'being a Weasley and a Malfoy ', and had decided to get to know each other, and it actually turned out quite nicely.

It had been a while though that Rose actually started thinking about Scorpius more and more.

Noticing him a lot more carefully and undistractedly then, she noticed she liked a lot of things about him...and inevitably, she fell in love with him.  
"Life is so unfair .I could never tell him." she thought to herself, laying on her bed and gazing at the bed sky, that was now presenting the beauty of it at its zenith.

She loved watching the sky and the stars, and having all those candles lit around her (darkness was not her cup of tea, she had to have light shedding everywhere to be comfortable enough to relax) made the atmosphere a lot more soothing.

"He would not forgive me, and I just cannot stand losing him...I guess it is better to meet cruelty by being next to him than far away, Isn't it...?,Besides, I am not even close to his taste, being the tomboy I am..."and with those thoughts and a tear running through her cheeks, she fell asleep enjoying the silence that existed in the heads' rooms, being next to the room Scorpius was supposedly sleeping ,hoping tomorrow would help her figure this out.

* * *

" No. It is out of the question!"Scorpius responded to his thoughts about confessing his feelings to Rose, his friend and co-head.

Scorpius was in the heads' common room, with the noisy fire being the only thing that kept the room lit. He was always fond of being in the darkness, as well as staring at the flames dancing right in front of him, enchanting him with that soft, warm, gold/red color.

"I am not strong enough to ruin what we have now...but...I cannot pretend, that we can still be friends..."he said, borrowing those last words from a song he had heard last week that expressed his feelings better than he ever would.

"Scor, what did she do to you dude...You are being all sentimental, you even like love songs now...This is lame...You can have any girl you want, remember?" his inner self mentioned, opposing to his feelings.

"Oh, shut up."He responded and shook his head to throw those thoughts away.

He stood up and went off to bed, to the room next to the one Rose was supposedly sleeping , hoping tomorrow would help him figure this out.

It was Christmas already, and the time had come for the students of Hogwarts to go home in order to spend the holidays with their families.

Rose and Scorpius were both aware that they would not be able to see or owl to each other during the holidays, due to the hatred that remained in the families for generations.

They had successfully managed to keep their friendship a secret from everybody else.

Both being the heads, they had endless time to hang out in the heads' common room.

They were also spending quite some time in the library; hence they were the best students in their classes.

It was quite an achievement they were both persuading to reach in success, and they had good reasons. If their families found out about them being close, the consequences would tantamount a dementor's kiss.

Keeping it a secret was the foolproof way, if they wanted to keep hanging out.  
"I will see you in two weeks" said Scorpius, standing in the middle of the heads' common room in front of a red-haired girl, with a captivating sight.

It was quite obvious, to him at least, that he found it rather difficult to look in her eyes and say goodbye, even if the goodbye was only for two weeks.  
"Yes you will. Take care, and try not to cause a lot of trouble "responded Rose, remembering what a bastard Scorpius can be, in the good way at least.  
"Oh please " was the last thing Scorpius said as he walked away.  
They were both quite late.

* * *

Rose walked in her house, and run up to her room.

She had missed being in there.

Queen size bed, fluffy black covers.

Three of the walls where white, and the other one had white and black wallpaper, with a beautiful flower pattern.

Bookshelves everywhere (she is Hermione Granger's daughter ,let's not forget about that )with either books or muggle things her mum had bought for her. She quite enjoyed them, and her grandfather Arthur was quite proud of her for that, besides everything else.

Long, heavy , white curtains reaching the floor, where some white and black pillows were lying.  
As soon as she got in she fell on the bed and turned her i-pod on, a muggle invention that was allowing you to listen to music through headphones. She loved music, as well as singing. It was like a drug to her, so this device was quite needed to her.

"Oh why can't I be what you need?  
A new improved version of me

But I'm nothing so good

No, I'm nothing

Just bones, a lonely ghost burning down songs..."

She was thinking of Scorpius once again.

"I break in two over you, oh I break in two

And each piece of me dies

And only you can give the breath of life

But you don't see me, you don't..."

Her feelings exactly.

When it came to Scorpius and her being together, she was desiccated of hope. It would never happen and she was well aware of it.

"The shock bleeds the red from my face

when I hear someone's taken my place.

How could love be so thoughtless, so cruel?.."

The music kept on playing, and with it tears were running once again in her face.

* * *

Scorpius walked in his room.

After so many years, his room still felt unfamiliar.

A huge desk, his broom right next to it, grey on the walls, heavy black curtains (the only thing he really liked in there).

He laid on his double bed and tried to relax, when all of a sudden he heard a sharp noise and the door opened right away.  
"Who on earth do you think you are?"

A tall, long-haired, blond man, the type that unfortunately could never be ignored. He closed the door as soon as he walked in Scorpius's room.

It was his grandfather.

Lucius Malfoy "You re hanging out with a WEASLY?You are a GONER, young man!"

"What for Merlin's pants do you think you are doing? What is this demeanour all about?"responded Scorpius, after he jumped up from the noise the door had created after the harsh opening.  
"Where did you get the right to be associated in any way with one of the Weasleys?Who-  
"I see that Goyle is quite a faithful slave in the family still, isn't he...Reminds me of house elves once again..."interrupted Scorpius, with a steady and soft voice, surprising even himself with the coldness of his tone.  
"Who do you think you are talking to? You, betraying the family, being associated with the enemy-  
"The enemy?"He said, still with a calm voice, but now he could feel his blood being drencher from his body and going all up to his fist, which was hidden behind his back.

He knew he would not be calm for a lot longer.

"You have been the only person stuck at the time of the War, high time you realized it already! The now existing hatred is yours all along; YOU have passed it onto everybody else! Get over it!"

The last words seemed to be the drop that made his anger flood all over.

His blood was now boiling, and it seemed harder than ever to lower the temperature.

Scorpius stopped to breathe and kept on after that.

"If dad had never taken the Unbreakable oath you would be in Azkaban by now! Needless to talk about last week's murder, the muggle born witch a block away from here! You think I didn't know who the killer was?"

What a coward his father was.

He had taken the oath in order to protect his father from the ministry, right after the War, but not because he loved him or anything.

He was afraid.

Such a coward.  
Scorpius had caught his grandfather out of guard.

After the last one he looked around to check if somebody had heard his grandson speak those words, and then turned back to him furious.  
"You think you have the privilege of betraying the family and the Malfoy name?"the voice spoke quietly, as if it expected something to be done, perhaps an apology.

The coldness of it was scorching Scorpius's heart. Was it now his fault..?  
"The Malfoy name? The one you ruined, along with dad, before and during the War? I guess I don't deserve being one then. I am not even in Slytherin, remember? Griffindor is my house."  
After that Scorpius did not realize what was going to happen until it was late.

His grandfather, fast as a lightning, took his wand out of his pocket and turned it to Scorpius.

He didn't make it in time to react.

His hand was still reaching for his own wand, when he saw a flash of light coming towards his.

"Crucio!"

Scorpius had known about the Cruciartus Curse.

But he had never expected this.

As soon as he heard the curse he felt pain conquering his whole body.

Excruciating, really.

But he took it.

And he pulled through.

When his grandfather lowered his wand, he said:

"If you ever again get associated with the Weasley girl, I am going to kill her."  
At these words Lucius walked out of Scorpius's room.  
Scorpius was frozen.

And this was not an outcome of the crucio.

The pain he felt a few moments ago could not be compared to what he felt now.

Anything he faced when he was under the curse was long gone.

His body was not aching anymore.

He could not believe.  
Lucius would hurt Rose?  
Now his whole body had gone numb, even by thinking something bad could happen to her.  
Something he would have caused.  
His fault it would be.  
Yes, yes it would.  
That, he couldn't take.

Still lying on his bed, he gazed upwards at the bed's sky, and in the thought of Rose's deep eyes, he felt tears coming down his temples.

A/N: So, what did you think?

The song is From autumn to ashes by Autumn's monologue.

Forgive me if I have made some mistakes.

Please please review and tell me what you think!

Thanks a gazillion for reading.

Take care!


	2. How could I ever?

A/N:I am soo sorry for not updating in such a long time,but i had no computer and internet connection on my hands!  
(yeah,awful,i know...) So I had no means to write or update...So here i give you the secon and last chapter of the story.  
It is rather big, but i didn't want to break it off in to, I liked it better that way.  
I own nothing, as always...(as if... )  
Enjoy!  
And please,please,please,REVIEW!

Chapter 2:How could I ever?

Christmas was over. One more year went by . Rose was thinking about what had happened to her in this year....What she had done.  
She was studying a lot, so she kinda had been lost from the real sociality.  
Also having prefect duties had pushed her a bit off the edge.  
But she was coping pretty fine with everything. Being a nerd was not her style anyway .  
Boys were still coming along to ask her on a date (she almost never accepted,she was too busy to)  
but she was happy with her life.  
Especially with her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy.  
She couldn't wait to go back to Hogwards and see him again.  
They were friends. Which was good. Or at least it was the best she could get.  
She knew she would never have him by her side the way she wanted.  
But at least she had him there, and that was utterly important to her.  
They hadn't talked for the whole vacation.  
She was excited to go back.

He had no idea.  
Thoughs were running through his head while the car was leading him at the Hogwards express.  
'How could I ever?' that's what he kept repeating in his head.  
Two days, two awful days had gone by since his gradfather threatened him.  
He could never stay away from her.  
Impossible. Yes,impossible it was. And something that he couldn't take.  
But he would try. For her sake. He had decided to try.  
He had no other choice. But how would he ever be able to tell her? A small death, he predicted.  
That's what that moment will be like.

The Hogwards express.  
Rose breathed in and passed through the wall, recognising the cold sense the wall left on her body.  
She had one more reason to be happy to go back to Hogwards, besides everything else.  
She had asked from McGonagal to bring her i-pod at Hogwards,and raise some spells from the head's room,since muggle devices would not work in the school of magic.  
After almost an hour of Rose explaining to her proffesor what exactly an i-pod is, she managed to convince her to raise a couple of spells from her room,  
so that Rose could listen to music.  
So she would have the loves of her life the ,Scorpius,withing ten meters.

And there he was.  
She saw him, beautiful, as he always was, entering the train.  
He hadn't seen her .She would have to wait till they get to Hogwards and have the chance to be alone.  
Nobody should see them together,for the sake of both.

It was the first time Scorpius had even felt so awful entering Hogwards.  
He was always thrilled to come back, see Rose, work on magic.  
But now.... Now he wished he had never been born.  
He had never thought it would feel so bad being away from her.  
Not literally away. He would be living next to her for the next six months.  
Yet, being so close to her and not being able to talk to her, touch her soft white skin, play with her beautiful red hair.  
So close and yet so far away.  
How could he ever?

That was it.  
The moment he stepped in the Head's room he saw her.  
She turned around and looked at him, putting a big smile on her face.  
'How beautiful she is,oh god,when she smiles'  
How could he ever?  
And the worst was about to come.  
She got up, run towards him, and hugged him.  
His legs were paralyzed, he couldn't think.  
He could only feel the warmth of Rose's hug, the heartbeat, the sensation of her body close to his.  
But he had to break off this beautiful feeling.  
How could he ever...

He had broken the hug.  
"What's up?" she wondered, first in her head and then out loud.  
"What are you doing?" she heard.  
'What do you mean? I just... hugged you. We haven't seen each other for more that two weeks'  
'I don't care.' a cold voice Rose couldn't recognise said.  
"What do you-"  
"What exactly don't you understand? Do you think we're friends or something?"  
"That's what I had in mind for some time now...."  
"Wrong answer, Weasly. We are no friends. There is no we. We are not friends,and we'll never be. We never were.' so cold his voice was.  
He was standing there,saying those things,how could he ever?  
"So you mean-  
"I mean we are not friends and never were .And never will be. It's as simple as that. Please do not bother talking to me again, unless it is about Head's business. You're a nuicance to me,Weasly." he started walking towards his door. The only sound was the fire on the fireplace that was lightening the room. Until Rose's voice breaked the silence, for what seemed to be the last time. "Why ....?" the sentence was not finished, but both knew what she meant.  
"I have wasted enough of my precious time with you, Weasly. I am not willing to spend more. I have a life, and you are not included." he said as he closed the Head's commor room.  
He had seemed to decide differently about going to his room.  
Rose was still and dizzy.  
His voice unnnecessarily reverberated throughout her body.  
It continued to drop like claps of thunder.  
She was holding the armchair till now. But the hand released, seeming it had will of its own, and her legs led her in her room, where she fainted on her bed.

Closing the door behing him, he took a deep breath.  
How long had he been talked to her?  
He was so cruel to her! How did he?  
It was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.  
How did he make it?  
How did he become so cold? How did he manage with this? How did he?  
How did he.  
The moment seemed endless. He was not ready for this pain. But she would be better without him. She would be safe.  
After going through a painful dinner and the sorting of the new students, he went back to the head's room.  
Keeping in mind the thought that Rose must be asleep ,since he did not see her at dinner (he was kinda worried about it, but he was desperately trying to keep the "Rose"-thoughts away from his mind) he silently entered the room and went to his bed to lie down.  
He did not feel like sleeping ,and the fact that Rose was in the next room, just a few feet away, was unbearable.  
And then he felt magic.  
He heard her voice. She was singing.  
And the words were reachin his ears with a slight break in the magical voice.

"Your fingertips across my skin The palm trees swaying in the wind Images

You sang me spanish lullabies The sweetest saddness in your eyes Clever trick

I never wanna see you unhappy I thought you'd want the same for me"

"Rose...What..."Scorpius thought, but the magical voice broke the silence once again, with a now more obvious hint of sadness conquering the silence.

"Goodbye my almost lover

goodbye my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be...?

So long my luckless romance

my back is turned on you

I should have known you'd bring me heartache

almost lovers always do....

We walked along the crowded streets

you took my hand and danced with me

Images

And when you

left you kissed my lips

you told me you would never ever forget these images......hmmmm..

I never wanna see you unhappy

I thought you'd want the same for me"

"These words..." they seemed to be so similar to what he was living. "Rose,are you crying...?"

"Goodbye my almost lover

goodbye my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

can't you just let me be

So long my luckless romance

my back is turned on you shouldhave known you'd bring me heartache

almost lover always do..."

And as he considered that he could not put his feelings in words better that this beautiful song has,he fell asleep in the silence of the night that was retrieved once again with the end of the song.

Rose woke up on her bed, with her yesterday clothes still on. She had not put on her pyjamas last night. She didn't even intend to fall asleep in the first place.  
She must have fallen asleep between singing and crying. Who would have thought she could cry so hard... at least she couldn't.  
Yesterday seemed so far away, yet so close. She felt empty, like she had missed something utterly irreplacable.  
And she did yesterday happen?What was wrong with Scorpius? Had she said anything to piss him off? Had she done something to make him so angry?  
The words he said seemed,oh god,so had never seen him so cold.  
Even before they started hanging out and being friends,or whatever the thing they had you wish to call it,  
since Scorpius was so against the specific expression,he had never been so hard on her.  
But now, something had changed, and Rose could not see what that was.  
And that just sucked.  
All she felt in a song's lyrics...:

"Hate me today,hate me tommorow hate me for all the things i didn't do for you hate me in ways,yeah ways hard to swallow hate me so you can finally see what's good for you"

Scorpius was finding it amazingly difficult not to talk to Rose.  
Now it seemed she was his whole meaning of it at least.  
After the night where he was so cruel to her,he would rarely see her.  
She would always be so tired. All she was doing was study, it seemed to him.  
And yes, she was doing that before, but now it was different.  
She seemed exhausted,lifeless.  
Empty.  
Greta was what had saved him from killing himself though.  
Greta was a sixth-year,and really close friend with Rose.  
It appeared she had a crush on Scorpius,but he wasn't really supposed to know.  
But he had brains to realize it.  
He once had saved her in Potions,whispering the answer the proffesor was requesting.  
He was rarely that type of guy, helping others when they are in need, but she looked so extremely pathetic at the moment that he could not help it but tell her the answer.  
Ever since she kept repeating him she would do anything he asked her.  
"I owe you,don't I?Let me know when you need something and i can help,I really want to repay you."  
That's what she used to say. And that was followed by blinking most of the .Nightmare.  
So after cutting out with Rose,he asked her to update him oftenly on how Rose were,without mentioning this to anybody.  
She accepted so easily it almost seemed surreal.  
But no.  
He would find out every single day what was happening to Rose,through Greta.  
And he was very thankful for his gifts that made Greta fall for him.  
The best part was that Greta never asked him a single thing about his request.  
He had gotten really lucky.  
Things at the common room were not good.  
Both avoided each other,so they would rarely meet.  
But Scorpiys always knew when Rose was there.  
And if he didn't,he would try to find out.  
No matter what, he wanted to be with her, but without her knowing. So mentally, he seemed to have accomplished it so far.

All this time he hadn't just been fooling and asking how she was. He had tried to find a way out of this whole situation.  
So he had owled his father. It was the only thing he had thought and it seemed like he would help in his head.  
So he sent him a letter, a few days after his talk with Rose.

"Dear father.

It seems like I am in some kind of trouble.  
But to start off from the beggining, I hang out with Rose Weasly. Or at least I used to till the beggining of Christmas.  
Please do not react badly facing this fact.I believe that after thinking about it, you will find nothing wrong about it.  
Besides, I know you have regretted for many things you were obliged to do back in the day and I think you have managed to get over prejudice. I know it is something you do not like, but I request from you to accept it, because it is something that makes me happy .She and I used to be friends. We were keeping it a secret from everybody because we had no idea how you or her parents would react.  
Lucius found out.  
I believe you have not forgotten our discussions for this person, or my opinion about him. But he has crossed the edge now. He wants me to stop being associated with her.  
He threatened me that he would kill her.  
Father, I cannot have her out of my life. For now I have managed to keep her away in order to protect her, but I cannot go on like this.  
I do not know what to do.  
I need your help.

P.S.:I am in love with her.  
Your son,  
Scorpius Malfoy"

Re-reading the letter,Scorpius realized for one more time that he and his father were talking in an extremely official way,  
no comparison to what a son and a father normally communicate.

Normally.  
Scorpius hated that word,and the whole concept behind it.  
He never believed normal existed.  
And he despised the fact that people were using this word to characterise him some times.  
He was no normal man.

Draco and Scorpius had talked about Lucius. Again, and again, and again.  
Nothing usually came out of it. But at least Scorpius had cleared his opinion about him at his father, and had tried to convince his father to talk up on his own.  
Which would systematically failed.  
Scorpius knew that most likely he would not get any help now either, but he had no other choice. He had thought of nothing else that he could talk to about this situation.  
What could he do?

Things had been bad for Rose.  
Without Scorpius being a friend, her life seemed quite empty, and many times unreasonable.  
She had always been a social person, but she would hardly open up truly to somebody.  
Come to think of it herself, the only person she was unconciously opened up the whole way was Scorpius.  
What an irony!  
She had become as weak as she could be to the person that ended up hurting her the most.  
And she hated being weak.  
She was not that type of girl to get weak.  
She was always the strong one,with the strong personality and everyone around her unconciously making her will their command.  
And with pleasure. All that existed now in her everyday life was studying , being a zombie that would walk around the halls and hex the third-years for absolutely no reason(sometimes reason existed,but most of them...not really)  
and being around people. One of her friends , Greta,would usually be with her,talking about her rather stupid problems,mostly about the wonderful dress she had found for the prom ,but Agatha had managed to get it off her hands,boys she used to shag (yeap!) and other girls talk.  
Fortunately, everybody, including Greta, knew that Rose and Scorpius were enemies (now,perhaps,but in the past...? as if... ) so nobody would mention him to her.  
She was thinking about him all the time already, imagine having everyone around her talking about him!  
Nobody knew what had happened between them. Nobody knew her feelings for him.  
Nobody knew the tears she had shed for him.  
And now, she was trying to cope with everything without him. How would she forget him? Him,that hurt her so much.  
He had no idea what pain he had caused her.

She had no idea how much it had hurt him doing what he had done.  
And, damn, she just could not leave his mind in peace! Not even for seconds!  
Climbing up the stairs, Scorpius walked to check if his father had responded to his letter.  
The beautiful, black owl was there with a letter wrapped around her leg.

"Scorpius.

I was, surprised by your letter.  
It was something I could not be expecting, and in the beggining I was...impressed, if not shocked.  
I am afraid I cannot help you in your request. What could i ever do,take him to the ministry? I have taken the Unbreakable oath,for Merlin's sake!  
And I do regret it,son.  
I suggest you stay away from the girl, since there is nothing else you can do.  
I can do nothing to help right now, but if i think of something, I will let you know.  
Son, don't do something you are not sure about.  
I have no problem with you being with Rose Weasly, but if her life is at stake, it is wise to stay away from her.  
Unfortunately,we are aware of what your grandfather is capable of doing.  
Your father,  
Drako Malfoy"

He knew it!  
Of course, he should have expected it!  
How could this coward person go against Lucius' will?  
He could never!!! Yes, a coward , that's what he had always been, and that could not be an excuse to his mistakes,  
that now affect others!  
He could never!  
Scorpius could not expect nothing from his father.  
Nothing more and nothing less that what he has already taken.  
Dissapointment.

End of February.  
Days went by, and the situations never changed.  
Rose was the same as she was after she stopped hanging out with Scorpius.  
Nothing changed.  
The more things change,the more same they stay,wasn't it? She had heard this walking by a group of Griffindors one day at quidditch.  
Nothing had changed for her,yet everything was the same. She couldn't make any sense out of it.  
Quid pro Quo.  
She had given things to Scorpius, but in the end she got nothing back. Why give alone?  
After two long hours in transfiguration, Rose went back to her dorm.  
She was once again in pain.  
All she needed now was a bath.  
Some time in the water alone to clear her head.

Walking in the Head's common room, she saw the familiar silver hair at the head of the couch.  
Scorpius was there, staring at the fire once again.  
As soon as she had walked in, she run into the bath, not even leaving a chance to her pleading eyes to see his perfect face.  
She took off her clothes as she waited for the tub to fill up with water, and when it was time she entered the mild-temperatured water.

It still felt weird for Scorpius not to talk with her in the Head'd common room.  
Back in the days, it was the only place they would loose up and talk freely.  
A while after Rose entered the bath,Scorpius heard the Common room's door knock.  
"Yes?"  
"Scorpius, you have a letter. It says Urgent on the envelope, I thought I should bring it to you. The owl just came. "  
Jasper,a sixth-year Slytherin was heard on the other side of the door.  
Scorpius opened the door, his stomach flitcing with anxty.  
What was going on?  
He took the latter after murmuring a "thanks" to Jasper and opened it quickly. It was from his father.

"Scorpius.  
I think you will like the news I have for you.  
The Aurors found Lucius.  
Not only he has the accusation of the two neigborhs since December(I believe you remember)  
but a ton of other things.  
He was found due to information by an unknown woman.  
You should thank your mother,Scorpius.  
He has been condemned to the Dementor's kiss.  
I am not happy about it at all, but it feels a bit relieving not to carry every single one of his secrets on my back.  
I hope you do what you find right now about Rose,and I wish you luck.  
Act wisely son.  
Your father,  
Drako Malfoy."

Joy.  
No.  
Happiness.  
No.  
He could not find the word for this feeling.  
9.  
That's how many times he read the letter to make sure he had not misunderstood.  
He could not be less interested for the details of the situation. He had to talk to Rose.  
He jumped out of the couch and run to the bath's door.  
"Rose!!! I need to talk to you!"  
For more than five minutes, Scorpius kept calling her. No answer.  
"Rose,please answer me!Are you ok?"  
He decided this would be the last call.

The water was more soothing than expected by Rose.  
One of the few things that could take her away for a few moments, relax her.  
After some time being in the bathtub, she heard his voice.  
"Rose!!! I need to talk to you!"  
He had not heard him calling her name in so long.... It was painful.  
He seemed to be standing right in front of the door. With every single syllabe of her name that was coming out of his mouth, she was trembling even worse.  
What was this all about? Why was he doing this to her? How could he? Was it some kind of joke?  
Why was this day so hard to go through?  
Harder than ever, she admitted, and did not respond to Scorpius's calls.

And then she started sinking. Not thinking much about it, she decided to dive into the~quite cold by now-water.  
She wouldn't be able to listen to his voice if she were underwater,would she? Sensing the water reach her face, she felt relieved. It seemed her temperature had risen, but as the water caressed her face, taking her tears away, it made her feel better.  
"Rose, please open the door!" Scorpius was yelling outside the door.  
She could still hear him. Not as loud, but she could hear him sharp, since he was screaming his lungs out now.  
After a few seconds, his voice started fading away. Being underwater helped after an escapist she was then.  
All she wanted was out of that world.  
She couldn't listen to him now.  
And then it all, slowly, turned black.

Decicively, and with a weird feeling in his stomach , Scorpius opened the door.  
And then he got numb.  
Rose's naked body was inside the white bathtub, and Scorpius was chilled to the bone.  
She was probably unconcious -yes,she must be unconcious! - and her whole body was under the clear water.  
After grabbing a towel, Scorpius lifted Rose rapidly from the water and covered her.  
His lips could not stop calling her name, pleading for a reaction.  
He was holding her in his hands now, her body covered with the warm towel and his jacked, and he was running to the infirmatry. The air was scortching his eyes, that were now pouring tears that had been clinging in his lids ever since they stopped talking. A fool, that's what he had been.  
He should have never heard Lucius.  
His regret was untold and the way to the infirmatry seemed endless, as the pain in his chest kept growing.  
When he finally got there, holding Rose's -cold- body, madam Pomfrey rushed and layed Rose on one bed.  
Silent, Scorpius stepped back and sat on a chair nearby Rose's bed. Feeling his pulse allover his body, his panic was getting worse, if possible.  
Or at least it felt like it.  
If Rose hadn't gasped for air after a few seconds, he would have died.  
As soon as she heard her breathe heavily, he instantly jumped up to see her, but decided to stay in place. She must have hated him by now. After all the things that had occured.  
He raised and went behind the curtain, sat in the chair next to the bed next to Rose's, and made sure he could keep an eye on her.  
By now she was sleeping peacefully -madam Pomfrey had put her to sleep with a strong potion ,something about her lungs, he had no idea - and Scorpius was lowering his trembling level.  
After what felt like centuries, but was in fact a few moments, madam Pomfrey left the room, and he went right next to her.  
Standing right above her now,he was staringat her beautiful face. She was calm, still pale, and her wet red hair made the paleness look more intense. He finally succumbed in his strong wish of touching her. How warm her hand was now!  
She was ok.  
Happiness, like he had never felt before.

Rose was numb.  
She felt like she had been locked in the position she were for days.  
What had happened? All she could remember was Scorpius's voice, and the cold water.  
She could sense... someone holding her hand.  
A soul that was touching her from nowhere and was filling her own soul. Her dreams were starting to shape. An invisible hug covered her, and made her forget all about yesterday's tears.  
Rose opened her eyes slowly and saw Scorpius smiling above her.  
Nothing stronger that the power of his heart, nothing brighter than his smile that was now back.  
He was there.  
He was really there. It was not a creation of her imagination, it was not a vision due to her escapist character.  
He was there, and he was holding her in his arms so tighly.  
"Do you have any idea how much you scared me??? Don't ever do that to me again!" the sweet voice said.  
"I promise." she replied,and the best had yet to come.  
Scorpius had loosened up on his hug and started kissing her.  
Rose was lost, she definately did not expect it, but did not intend to miss the moment thinking through it.  
So she kissed back.  
What an endless, beautiful moment for both!  
Scorpius was holding her waist with one hand,and with the other he was softly touching her cheek.  
At the start,the kiss was soft,tender,romantic,but after a few seconds Scorpius deepened it, while softly grabbing her neck.  
Rose's resonse was not something to make him stop.  
It seemed like they both had missed each other.  
But sooner that one would imagine, realisation of what he was doing dawned n Scorpius.  
So he backed off, breaking the skin connection.  
"I-I I am so sorry Rose,I-"  
"Wh-what just happened? " Rose replied happily surprised by the whole situation.  
"W-Well, there is no point in hiding now, is there... I'm... in love with you. For some time now."Scorpius's heart was racing by now It felt really close in exploding,he thought.  
Rose thought for a couple of seconds. It seemed she could not believe in her ears.  
If something like that was what was going on, what was this "after Christmas" situation?  
"T-Then,why did you stop talking to me?" the mumbling seemed unstoppable from both sides.  
"That is very hard to explain, and not something neccesary for you to find out now. You should lay down and rest, you need it.  
I apologise again for everything,I should probably go n-"  
Scorpius didn't get to finish his sentence. It was broken up by a passionate kiss Rose was giving him.  
Rose could not resist him any longer, he seemed to have put a spell on her. So she kissed him, and at the middle of the kiss, she stopped (actually, paused) and looked deep into his grey eyes. "Don't go. Don't ever leave. I cannot live without you. You see, i'm in love with you too." she was holding his face with both her hands.  
"I won't. I promise. "he replied. How could he ever?  
And they stayed there, and kissed for hours, to catch up all the wasted time.

A/N:So, this was the story everyone!!! I really hope you liked it. If you did, let me know!  
If you didn't, do the same, tell me what you didn't like, what you would prefer had happened.  
Thank you for reading everybody! Let us not forget this story is dedicated to one of my best friends, AdFinemAdInfinitum, who's AWESOME!

Check her out!I used the songs "Almost lover" by A Fine Frenzy and "Hate me" by Blue October.

Love you guys, you rock.  
Till we write again, take care!  
Brooke


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